Chapter 252: The Escape (3)

"There we go, this was the last one!" Naybeah's voice bellowed in the now much more vibrant structure as she threw a large piece of broken-off wood to the side. With the path now open, she walked forward to the wooden pole planted at the middle of the stall. There were two metal chains going from its top to each side, a pair of elves looking with big, hopeful eyes at the incoming blonde amazon.

Just like she exclaimed this was indeed the very last one of the stalls, all the others have already been destroyed, and its residents freed. A large group has gathered just outside the building, enjoying the refreshingly cold nightly breeze on their skin, their very first action in this new world they are going to be released into. Although many had no idea where to go or what to do with themselves, at least for the moment, most just wanted to enjoy this feeling. 

Despite being a large crowd, they were mostly calm, only the occasional hushed whispers could be heard amongst them. While they were all 'comrade-in-arms' so to say, the feeling of freedom was very new to them. 

Scarlet, the red-haired princess was standing in the midst of the crowd silently watching them with a much calmer smile on her usually tense face. These people, just like her, went through unimaginable torture and pain. They have already given up hope to ever experience such a feeling, most of them were just waiting for their redeeming demise.

However, now, as they sat on the dusty, dark ground and looked up at the clear starry night sky, for the first time, they felt the tiny slivers of hope shine through the despair that clouded their minds and hearts. Although they did receive that first mental push from the strange purple-haired and eyed lady, that was only a temporary measure, she merely re-planted the seeds that for most of these people, have already died out.

Turning towards the orc settlement, Scarlet couldn't help but wipe her face of the few droplets of tears that managed to escape from the corners of her eyes. In a hushed, barely audible tone, her whispers flew away with the gentle breeze that just passed by her.

"Thank you… Aiden."

Going through all the stalls one by one and freeing all the enslaved people took more time than they all expected. The night was probably at its peak, slowly turning tomorrow into today as they walked ever closer and closer to the next dawn.

This thought caused not a small amount of nervousness to Scarlet, as even though Aiden took care of the currently stationed guards, eventually there would be a change and the next shift would arrive turning their previously easy rescue mission much harder.

With these thoughts raging in her mind, she turned towards the opened door and walked towards it. 

Just as she was about to shout at the pair of girls still working inside, Sarah walked out with a scantily dressed pair of identical-looking elven girls in tow. Not too far behind them, the tall, blonde amazon was following with her usual wide grin plastered on her face. Her humongous two-hander was resting on her right shoulder. 

"Before you ask, yes we are done, they are the last." Sarah spoke first, reading Scarlet's face as if it was an open book. "We should give them a few minutes to rest and then we can leave."

"We should leave now, we have already wasted way too much time. We don't know when the next shift will arrive. We can't fight AND protect all these people at the same time!" Not really happy with the suggestion of spending even more time at this place, Scarlet retorted in an agitated manner.

"Relax! We have time. Look, at most, it should be just past midnight!" Naybeah answered in a dismissive manner, pointing towards the night sky. "Read the stars, we have spent 2-3 hours here, at the most. Giving these girls a few extra minutes wouldn't matter much."

Unable to refute the blonde amazon's words, Scarlet could only scoff with annoyance. Without responding, she turned around left walking back to the crowd of people.

"Listen up guys!" Getting back to her previous position at the core, Scarlet raised her arms into the air, and yelled out, grabbing the attention of everyone. She patiently waited until she saw that all the attention was focused on herself, before continuing. "We will set out in the next few minutes. Make sure you are not lagging too far behind, stay silent, and look after each other! This is still the enemy's territory, and we don't want to raise any unwanted attention! Together, we can get the freedom that was robbed from us back!"

Although her words were harsher than what Sarah would have liked, it still did the trick, at least for the most part. Most of the eyes there were plastered on the fiery princess had a hopeful and determined glint shining in them. A few others were understandably frightened at the prospect of being captured by these monsters again, but even for them, the dark, and hollow despairing look were no longer present. 

Heaving a tired sigh, she grabbed her temples. 

"I guess we can work with this…" She muttered mostly to herself.

Walking to her left, Naybeah gently grabbed her hand on her left shoulder, giving it a light squeeze as she spoke in a calm tone.

"Don't worry, we will get them all to safety." 

"I… I'm not worried about them, I…" 

Before Sarah had the chance to finish her thought, Naybeah spoke up again with the still calm, reassuring tone in her voice. Matching her gaze, she as well looked towards the settlement in the distance.

"The best we can do for him is to complete the task that was assigned to us, Sarah. We need to trust him, that he will return safe and sound. Remember, he can take care of himself!"

With her part said, she gave one last light squeeze to Sarah's left shoulder before leaving her and walked towards the middle of the group where Scarlet was speaking to a few people. The confident look on their faces gave the impression to Naybeah that these were acting as the de-facto leaders of the group, with a much stronger will than the rest. They were looking at the red-haired girl with passion and zeal shining in their eyes.

"Miss Scarlet, when are we leaving?" A thin, bald human guy asked with a respectful tone, clearly eager to leave this nightmarish place behind.

"Yes, Lady Scarlet, just please let us leave this place behind. We all just want to leave and never see any of this place ever again!" A woman, with brown, greasy, messy hair joined in. The bruises on her curvaceous body suggested unimaginable horrors in her life. Still despite all that, she had the same zeal in her eyes as the others.

Giving a quick look at her body, Scarlet couldn't help but frown for a brief moment, before she forced the smile back on her face. 

"Not for too long, I assure you. We just need to give the last of the freed a moment of respite before we set out. Just like you all, they have also gone through the same, try to understand. I assure you, none of us want to stay here any longer than it's absolutely necessary."

Although it was clear that her words did little to calm their minds, they did not refute her words and did not argue any longer. Giving an understanding nod, the gathered left back towards their own little circle of people eagerly awaiting the answers from the three 'leaders' before they all glanced towards the pair of twins that just sat down on the ground slightly away from the group with the same frightened look in their eyes that many of that had when they first walked out of their own stalls.

Looking at their expression, they all understood and did not argue with their own 'leaders' any longer. They all could guess what went through the twin elves' minds as they first looked up at the clear night sky, or when they breathed in their very first gasp of air. The feeling of freedom did not hit them immediately, but it needed a bit to slowly settle in.

Meanwhile, Sarah, after being left alone with Naybeah's reassuring words, arrived next to the other two girls with a complicated look on her face.

Seeing her expression, Scarlet couldn't help but ask out with worry resurfacing in her eyes.

"What is bothering you? Is there a problem?"

Instead of the purple-haired girl, it was the blonde amazon that answered the question, as she turned towards the direction of the orc's settlement with a gentle, kind smile.

"No, she is just worried about him. While we are working in peace and silence, he is already in the den of these pigheaded monsters threading through dangers we can't even imagine. She is just worried that's all…"

"N-no... I... " Sarah wanted to speak up and refute their words, but the bright pink coloration of her cheeks betrayed her before she even had the chance.

Just as she was about to force some words out of her stuttering mind, an ear-shattering blustering explosive sound rang out from the direction of the settlement, followed by a powerful wave of invisible energy washing over them, scaring them in the process.

"W-what was that?!" Scarlet jumped in fright, followed by most of the large group of people.

The large grin turned upside down on her face quickly, Naybeah gazed at the distance with a stoic, stern look on her face. Her usually calm voice now carried a visible threat as she spoke with a grave, cold tone.

"Something bad must have just happened. We need to leave now."

***

Please read the author's note just below! Thank you!